More Fun Things to do in Atlanta with Little Kids

Are you looking for kid friendly places in Atlanta? Have you already taken your kids to all the places featured in Atlanta’s Best Things to do with Little Kids?  Are you looking for more fun places to explore with your littles?  Check out my list of 6 more fun things to do in Atlanta with little kids!

If you only have a day to spend in Atlanta, make the most of it with this One Day in Atlanta Itinerary!

1. The Atlanta History Center

Your kids will love the main campus of the Atlanta History Center in Buckhead.  They have outdoor exhibits and indoor exhibits, so no matter what the weather, there is something fun to do!

Outdoor Exhibits

My kids LOVED to visit the historic Tullie Smith Farmhouse.  All the buildings that make up the farm are historical and were moved to this location to represent what life would have looked like in rural Georgia in the 1860s.  On weekends and holidays, the Atlanta History Center often has special programs that include reenactors in period costume.  My children especially loved to play with the historic toys during these special events.  On a typical day, children will love meeting the heritage sheep, goats, chickens and turkeys in the farm yard.  Find out what the farm animals are up to in the Live cam!  Plus, they can explore the outbuildings and the kitchen garden.

The gardens feature two children’s playhouses.  Kids will love exploring these mini-houses!  Inside the Swan House, kids will enjoy looking for the swan in almost every room and they will have fun checking out the toys in the children’s room upstairs.

Indoor Exhibits

The locomotive the Texas is on display inside the museum.  Kids will have the opportunity to climb aboard and get a close look at this Civil War era steam engine.

The Goizueta Children’s Experience is a brand-new 5,000 square foot immersive play space for children up to 8-years-old.  The theme for 2025 is “Our Great Big City.”  Kids will have a blast and learn about Atlanta’s history and landmarks at the same time.  Some of the landmarks featured include the Fox Theater and the Varsity! 

Plus look for special events for kids such as Toddler Storytime.

Visiting the Atlanta History Center

Check out this guide to the Atlanta History Center to learn everything you need to visit including how to potentially go for free!

2. Chattahoochee Nature Center

Travel north to Roswell to connect with the natural environment the Chattahoochee Nature Center.  This environmental education center makes its home in 127 acres of forest, wetland and river habitat. 

Start your visit at the Discovery Center, where your kids can explore the interactive exhibits and learn about the animals who make this landscape home.  Next, get out into nature by taking a hike or you can get up close and personal in the wetlands and river in a canoe.  The Center offers special canoe trips for beginners. 

Visiting the Chattahoochee Nature Center

Check out the Happenings page to find out what fun family events are coming up.  Some events to look for include the Butterfly Festival and Butterfly Encounter, Family Fun Days, Halloween Hikes, and the Enchanted Woodland Trail.

3. Southeastern Railway Museum

Do your kids love trains?  Even if they don’t, they will after they explore Southeastern Railway Museum in Duluth – just north of Atlanta.  This transportation history museum has the largest collections of trains on display in Georgia.  Walk around the museum and explore the locomotives, the passenger cars, the cabooses and more!

Presidential Train Cars

The Southeastern Railway Museum has two presidential railroad cars on display.  Franklin Delano Roosevelt frequently rode the Pullman Private car named Marco Polo.  Roosevelt traveled to Warm Springs, Georgia often on this car when he was governor of New York and the President of the United States.  Norfolk Southern owns this historic car.

President Warren G. Harding rode in the 1911 Pullman car named Superb during his 1923 cross country tour.  Sadly, President Harding passed away in San Francisco while on this tour.  This train car returned the president to Washington DC and later to Marion, Ohio as part of the funeral train.  Seaboard Coastline Railroad donated the car to the Southeastern Railway Museum in 1967.

More than Trains

In addition to trains, the museum has a collection of historic Atlanta transit vehicles.  Check out the historic buses and taxi cabs on display. 

Visiting the Southeastern Railway Museum

While you are at the museum, be sure to take advantage of the train ride if it is running that day!  You can bring your own food and have a picnic.  Make sure that you wear closed toe shoes as the train museum is an industrial site.  Most of this museum is outdoors, so this museum can be best enjoyed in pleasant weather!  The museum is open Thursday – Sunday.  Double check the website for current hours. 

4. Atlanta Botanical Gardens

The Atlanta Botanical Gardens may not be the first place you think of when you are trying to entertain children, but this garden has a lot to offer.  The Lou Glenn Children’s Garden offers hands on fun set in this garden setting.  Kids can build towers, paint with water and play in the treehouse.  Plus, there is a carnivorous plant bog to explore!

When it is hot, the main attraction is the Splash Pad!  The first time I brought my children to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens; I had no idea that there was water play and I was not prepared.  Don’t make the same mistake!  The Gardens offers expanded bathrooms so you can change clothes.  Children may only wear bathing suits at the Splash Pad.  Adults are not permitted to wear bathing suits in the Gardens. 

Kids will love the frogs in the of the Fuqua Conservatory.  Check the schedule for the day and sign up to participate in a Frog Feeding!  Children will also enjoy the Canopy Walk and learning about the Edible Garden.  

Visiting the Atlanta Botanical Gardens

Check of the Calendar of Children’s Programming before your visit!  If it is shoulder season, check the website to find out if the Splash Pad is open. Note that the Garden is closed on Mondays except for certain holidays.  Double check the website before you visit.

5. High Museum of Art

The High Museum of Art has an amazing indoor play space!  It is called the Greene Family Learning Gallery and it is made up of two large rooms.  The space is designed for children 8-year-old and younger.  This immersive experience allows children to be inside the art and create art at the same time.  My kids loved climbing and exploring the child-sized spaces.  But their favorite exhibit was the huge, colored light screens.  As children move in front of them, the screens change the colors and created art in front of your eyes!

Family Programming at the High Museum

Be sure to pick up a smART Box at the beginning of your visit.  These boxes are filled with paper, pencils, crayons, and other art supplies.  When you return with your box, the High Museum will refill the supplies for free.  During your visit, High Museum staff will provide guided activities.  The first activities involve a scavenger hunt where you search for 2 pieces in the museum.  Then to keep the fun going, you complete the next 2 activities at home. 

In addition to the play space and smART Boxes, the High Museum offers specific family programing from Family Saturday (the first Saturday of the month), Toddler Thursdays, summer camps, and more.  Please note that the play space is closed on UPS Second Sundays – which is the High Museum’s free admission day. 

Visiting the High Museum

Before you head out, visit the High Museum’s website to Plan Your Day.  This page offers recommendations for specific programming for children of all ages. 

6. Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville

If you have time for a day trip from Atlanta, then the Tellus Science Museum deserves a visit.  When you enter the museum, prepare to be wowed by the Science in Motion exhibit which includes replicas of historic air and space travel.  The Wright Flyer steals the show! 

Next up, explore the Fossil Gallery.  The museum has a T. Rex fossil replica among many others.  Kids are sure to be impressed.  Then explore the Weinman Mineral Gallery to see minerals in their natural form and to learn about how we used these minerals in every day objects.  Plus, you can purchase tickets for a planetarium show.

Interactive Exhibits for Kids

Fossil Dig & Gem Panning

My children LOVED the Fossil Dig and Gem Panning section of the museum and I think that they could have spent the whole day in this area.  Kids can be paleontologists and dig for fossils.  The big surprise!  The Tellus Museum has real fossils in the sand.  When kids find one, it is theirs to keep!  The museum also offers Gem Mining.  Kids pan for gems by sifting sand and water – again there are real gems in here and the kids can take home all the gems that they find!

My Big Backyard

The My Big Backyard interactive play space is designed for children 10-years-old and under.  Children have the opportunity to get energy out here and explore the interactive exhibits.  We didn’t spend as much time as we could have here, because we stayed so late that the museum was closing!

Visiting the Tellus Science Museum

You can bring your own food and have a picnic outside the museum near the dump truck and other outdoor equipment exhibits.  Or you can purchase food at the Tellus Café.  It is easy to spend more time at this museum than you planned!

More Fun Things to do in Atlanta with Little Kids

Have you visited any of these Atlanta attractions with your kids?  Do you have any recommendations to add to the list?  I have also heard good things about the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History, but I have not been there myself.

If you have any recommendations, let me know in the comments!

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